This
is the 21st century where technology and internet holds sway and
makes live easy. It’s sad and painstaking that despite various world’s renowned
innovations and technologies that have shaped basic infrastructures and enhanced
living, Nigeria is still lacking behind.
We
are still grasping with a basic infrastructure as simple as ROAD CONSTRUCTION!
The
city of Dubai has a Metro that is built straight into shopping Malls. South
Africa and UK has Rails built into the airports.
The
Lagos-Ibadan Expressway is about the most important road in Nigeria which connects
Lagos, the commercial heart of the country to the rest of the country. The
significant of that road to the growth of commerce and businesses cannot be
undermined yet the government has been battling with its expansion and
renovation for almost 15 years. We were told the road when it finishes will
just be a 3 to 4 lanes road on each side. My grouse is, why can’t a Shuttle
Metro Line be included into the design and construction of the road now? Thousands
of people and cars ply this road daily and it is only a common sense thing that
at this age, a Shuttle Metro Line is the answer to the needs of the people
living along the stretch of this road and those traveling daily on it.
Why a
Shuttle Metro Line?
Building
a Shuttle Metro Line into this road will automatically open up the adjoining towns
and cities along the Lagos-Ibadan Expressway. Many residential estates are
already springing up, and it’s only a Metro that can service these people.
A
Metro is faster than a regular car. With a Metro, it means one can make Lagos
to Ibadan in less than 30 minutes compared to an average of 1 hour, 30 minutes
a car will use (that’s even on a normal day when there’s no traffic).
Time
is money! Commuters using the Metro will save time and automatically money. People
can actually live outside Lagos and come to work in Lagos daily.
Construction
Model
The
construction of the Metro Line should be done by Nigerians for Nigerians with
just technical supports coming from China. This should not be seen as another
means of siphoning government money by politicians.
Nigeria
is having over 200 Higher Institutions. These schools can actually sent in 10
of their best Engineering students for the project as interns. These set of
students will have first-hand experience on the construction and government can
later trained them and employ them to be a team that can build and replicate
this project across Nigeria.
The
Lagos-Ibadan Expressway is 120 Kilometres from Lagos (7up end) to Ibadan (Iwo
Road end).
A
Metro park will be built at 7up/Toll Gate end in Lagos and at Iwo Road with
multi-storey car parks where people can park their cars at a fee while using
the Metro services.
Commercial
and Economical Values
With
the thousands of people that ply the Lagos-Ibadan Expressway daily, there is a readymade
market and usage for the Metro Services. Thousands of people lives at the
cities and settlements between Lagos and Ibadan, from Magodo/Ketu/Shangisha,
Ojodu/Berger, Mowe/Ibafo, Redeemed Camp,
Ofada, Arepo, Sagamu, Remo, Ajebo, etc. Over 1 million people live on this
stretch, so you can imagine the number of people the Metro Service can cater
for and commercial potentials of the project.
The
Metro will no doubt be a money making venture for the country if it is built
now and not delayed.
The
Metro project will provide jobs for people that will be employed by the
operators.
The
Metro will generate direct and indirect businesses from suppliers, Ticketers,
Cleaners to food vendors among others.
The
Lagos-Ibadan Metro Line will automatically take stress off Lagos as many people
will move out to the adjoining cities since they know they can live outside
Lagos and come by Metro to work in Lagos and go back home in recorded time and
also save money!
It
will take strains and stress off the main expressway as many people will prefer
to use the Metro services because of time. This in return will save the government,
road maintenance cost.
The
expressway cannot be completed now without this facility and 5 to 6 years
later, government will say they want to modernize it and start a light rail or metro
project that will start causing pains and havocs for the road users. It is
better for it to be done now and the people face the hardship once and for all.
With
our dwindling fortune on Crude Oil, now is the time to exploit modern
technology and build long-lasting infrastructures of economical values.
It
will be a good thing if the new Minister of Transportation, Rotimi Amaechi and
his counterpart in Power, Works and Housing, Babatunde Raji Fashola can sit
down to review the current plan of this road and come up with a better and
modern plan that can accommodate the Metro services.
The
project might look overwhelming, considering the time and resources that will
go into it but with sincerity of purpose and will it is achievable and can be
done also in recorded time.
Feel free to
contribute to this write-up, stating things that can be done, especially
professionally to achieve this feat.
If you
believe in this project, kindly share this on your page.
Written
By
Biodun
Caston-Dada
Publisher,
Acada Magazine
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